BY EVANGELINE DE VERA

FORMER agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn "Joc Joc" Bolante yesterday asked the Supreme Court to declare his arrest and Senate detention last Thursday dawn as "unlawful" and to order his permanent release.

He said he was accused of lying and evasion only because his answers did not fit the senators’ prejudgment of his role in the P728-million fertilizer fund scam.

Senate inquiries in the last Congress called him the architect of the "scam" that diverted funds to the campaign of President Arroyo in 2004. Bolante has refused to link the President to releases of the fund, and went further by saying the President did not know of the fertilizer project.

Bolante said the Blue Ribbon committee did not specify which of his answers were false or evasive.

"Worse, petitioner is now being detained at the office of respondent Sergeant-at-Arms without him even being given the chance to explain his supposed false and/or evasive answers," he said.

He argued that the "issue of whether or not a witness in a Senate hearing is lying or giving answers is a matter that must be determined by a court of law and only after due hearing and presentation of evidence to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt."

He said the proceedings have no legislative purpose of any kind whatsoever and challenged the Blue Ribbon committee’s authority to conduct investigations.

Named respondents in the new petition were Senate sergeant-at-arms Jose Balajadia Jr., Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and the Blue Ribbon committee led by its chairman Sen. Richard Gordon.

Gordon on Thursday said Bolante might spend Christmas in Senate detention if he refuses to come clean on the P728-million fertilizer fund investigation.

Bolante has been detained at the Office of Sergeant-at-Arms since his arrest Thursday dawn by Senate security personnel after he was cited in contempt for allegedly lying in the past three hearings on the multi-million fertilizer fund scam.

Eleven of 17 members of the Blue Ribbon panel signed the contempt citation for Bolante for his alleged lying and evasive answers to senators’ inquiries.

Majority leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said it was "possible" for Bolante to spend Christmas at the Senate if he would still refuse to tell the truth in the next hearing by the panel.

"Hopefully in the next hearing magsabi na siya ng katotohanan para makauwi siya ng maayos."

The panel scheduled the next hearing on Monday next week.

The Senate’s arrest order against Bolante states that he will be detained at the Senate until he purges himself of contempt or until the Office of the Ombudsman or the Justice Department files a case against him for false testimony.

Bolante maintained that he had been telling the truth at the Senate hearing and that he would never be compelled to change his answers.

Senators Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and Francis Pangilinan agreed that Bolante might be detained "indefinitely" until he purges himself of the contempt charge.

"When a person is arrested under a contempt citation, he can be detained by the Senate for a long time until, in the language of the law, he purges himself of this act," Pimentel said.

Pangilinan agreed, saying, "It’s only as definite as he chooses it to be, as indefinite as he chooses it to be."

Gordon assured Bolante he is being "detained not to be humiliated" but just to ensure the truth will come out.

He maintained that there are sufficient grounds for the arrest and detention in the Senate of Bolante, stressing that it was consistent with the rules of the Senate and the committee.

"Before we ordered the arrest of Mr. Bolante, the members of the blue ribbon committee held a caucus and we were all convinced that Bolante had been giving us statements contradictory to the testimonies of resource persons and documents presented by them. That is clear lying and lying is a contemptuous conduct," he said.

Pangilinan also challenged the Ombudsman to file a plunder case against Bolante.

"As the so-called Protector of the People, what has the Ombudsman done to defend the interest of the public in this multi-million peso scandal? What is the status of its parliamentary investigation on the case?" Pangilinan asked.